St Kilda coach Grant Thomas was woken soon after midnight yesterday to receive the sort of news that every Australian football club official has suddenly come to dread.

Two of his senior footballers, Leigh Montagna and the recently separated Stephen Milne, had been accused of sexual assault by two women they had met on Sunday night after the club's family day at Moorabbin.

Still celebrating the Saints pre-season premiership, Milne and Montagna had received a text message from the women, who picked them up at a bayside hotel and drove them to Montagna's home, according to St Kilda officials.

On Monday, both women alleged they had been assaulted by the two players. One of the women, according to the club, was known to at least one of the two players.

The timing of the allegations could not have been worse for the AFL, coming after repeated statements by league chief executive Andrew Demetriou that Australian rules does not deserve to be tarnished by the sexual assault allegations surrounding rugby league clubs Canterbury Bulldogs and Melbourne Storm.

The allegations against the St Kilda players also came on the same day that the SBS Insight program featured unrelated claims by an unnamed woman that a prominent AFL player took part in a gang rape on her several years ago, and on the eve of the AFL's official launch of a season in which it has vowed to welcome more women to the game.

Demetriou described the St Kilda allegations as "very serious and very disappointing", but said the timing of the police investigation was irrelevant.

St Kilda president Rod Butterss and chief executive Brian Waldron, who have worked to resurrect their club's poor off-field reputation, appeared shattered when they met the media at 4pm at Moorabbin.

A police raid on Montagna's bayside home took place shortly after midnight yesterday. Montagna and Milne, both of whom played in Saturday night's Wizard Cup final win, were interviewed on tape by Brighton police. The players denied they had sexually assaulted the women and after the police interview called coach Thomas, who, in turn, interrogated the pair at 2am yesterday. Thomas reportedly told the pair he would sack them if they lied to him. Butterss conducted his own interrogation of the players about 3am. Thomas refused to comment yesterday but was to address the media early today before the Saints' regular training session at Moorabbin. It remained uncertain whether Milne and Montagna would attend today's session, although that was the plan at the club late yesterday.

Queen's counsel David Grace, who has been hired by the club to represent the pair, arrived to question Milne and Montagna at 4am yesterday.

It is understood the club was confident of the players' innocence after their stories proved consistent in four separate sets of questioning. Milne, 24 and Montagna, 20, spent several hours undergoing counselling at Butterss' Brighton home yesterday.

Teammate Justin Koschitzke, who shares a house with Montagna and was incorrectly named by Channel Seven as being part of the police investigation, was also being counselled. Despite an apology to Koschitzke by the network, St Kilda officials last night said the club would take legal action against the journalist who named the player and the network.

Meanwhile, police yesterday said they would wait for a formal complaint before investigating separate claims that a current and prominent AFL footballer had taken part in a pack rape. The unidentified alleged victim told the SBS Insight program that she was raped "a few years ago" by the footballer and four other men, also unidentified. Reports suggest the alleged incident may date to 1999.

The woman said the incident occurred after a male friend invited her to a popular venue. The friend allegedly suggested they move to a private room, where she said they were joined by four other men, including the footballer.

The woman said she was then cornered by the men, who held her down, threatened to bash her and raped her in turns. "I pleaded with them to let me go and then they just proceeded to one-by-one rape me," she said. "They were instructing each other what to do next... (and) made me perform grotesque acts on them.

Police Victoria spokesman David Spencer said police were "certainly interested" in the allegations, but that no action would be taken until further information was received. Demetriou said the league would pursue its own inquiries.